1 Corinthians 6:9-17·~1 min

Members of Christ

Paul says the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom and lists forms of life that belong to that realm, including sexual immorality, idolatry, theft, greed, drunkenness, abuse, swindling, adultery, and men involved in same-sex acts. Yet he reminds the Corinthians that some of them once were such people, but they have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

D⁹o you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Paul repeats and qualifies Corinthian slogans about what is permissible, saying freedom must not become enslavement and bodily appetite is not the measure of the body's purpose. The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body, and the God who raised the Lord will also raise believers by his power.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.

Because believers' bodies are members of Christ, Paul says they cannot be joined to a prostitute without contradiction. Sexual union makes two people one flesh, while the one joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

Section summaryPaul warns that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, but reminds the Corinthians that some of them once lived in those ways and have now been washed, sanctified, and justified in Jesus Christ. He then challenges slogans about freedom and appetite by insisting that the body belongs to the Lord, will be raised by God, and cannot be joined to sexual immorality without violating its identity as a member of Christ.

Role in the chapterThis section links moral warning with gospel identity. It moves from who the Corinthians once were to what their bodies now mean because they belong to the risen Lord.